Key Match-up – Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns
In Utah’s first two contests against the Timberwolves, the Jazz had success largely because they were largely able to hold rising star center Karl-Anthony Towns in check. Although he had 19 points in both contests, he shot just 8-of-19 (.421) in the first outing then 5-of-13 (.385) in the second.
However, in the most recent meeting, Towns was able to get it going and thoroughly dominated the Jazz, putting up 21 points on an efficient 9-of-16 performance. Rudy Gobert, on the other hand, had his only single-figure game of the entire month in the outing as he finished with just nine points in only 21 minutes of play.
Much of the Jazz team was out of sync in the contest and Rudy was no exception as several Wolves players were able to capitalize on an unfocused Utah squad and run away with the victory.
However, given how well Rudy has played of late (17.3 points, 13.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in the month of March and 19.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and an astounding 4.5 blocks so far in April), I expect quite the opposite result. Although Towns continues to be solid, Gobert has looked like an indomitable force and given that in two of the three prior contests he played exceptionally well against KAT, I expect a repeat of that kind of performance again tonight.
Towns is capable of causing Gobert some issues as he can stretch the floor out past the three-point line, but that likely won’t be nearly enough to prevent Rudy from taking control. Not to mention, the Timberwolves are coming into tonight’s game on the second night of a back-to-back while the Jazz have enjoyed two days off, so it’s reasonable to assume that KAT will be somewhat gassed while the Stifle Tower will be fresh and ready to excel on both ends of the floor.